Westfield extends Harrison football losing streak

The outcome was the same, but there was something different about this one.

For the fourth straight year, Westfield opened its season with a victory over Harrison, this one a 35-14 win Friday night at A.J. Rickard Field.

The difference between this year's game and the last couple openers? Harrison was excited about the football season opening under new head coach Terry Peebles.

"The kids played hard, but they just played against a very good team," Peebles said. "When you make mistakes against a very good team, they are going to capitalize on it and they did tonight.

"The kids fought hard and were still fighting at the end of the game. They stuck to it and played hard. That is what I am happy with. I am not happy with the execution and the mistakes, but I was happy with the effort. I was not happy with the score."

The game did not look like the No. 2 ranked team in Class 5A against a team with the longest losing streak (37) in the state. After Westfield took a 7-0 lead in the first quarter on 24-yard scoring pass from Ryan Pepiot to Milo Beam, the Harrison offense got untracked at the outset of the second quarter.

The Raiders' first touchdown was set up by a 45-yard pass completion from JDan Sturgeon to Jeep Morehouse to the Westfield 5. Two plays later, Sturgeon found Daniel Land in the back of the end zone for the Harrison score. Silas Jensen added the extra point to tie it at 7-7 with 9:10 left before halftime.

Harrison had an opportunity to score late in the quarter when Seth Meyer picked off a Pepiot pass and returned it to the Westfield 24. After two sacks, the Raiders faced a third-and-21 from the 35. Sturgeon found Dan Wright on a screen pass and he picked his way through the defense to score what looked like the go-ahead touchdown. But, a penalty nullified the touchdown and the Raiders came away empty after Jensen missed a 23-yard field goal.

Westfield responded by driving the length of the field and scoring on a 43-yard pass from Pepiot to Nick Henderson. That gave the Shamrocks a 14-7 halftime lead.

"We had our opportunities in the first half," Peebles said. "We should have been winning at halftime. When you go in winning at halftime, it changes the momentum. The tide changed after they scored."

Westfield built a 35-7 lead before Harrison got on the scoreboard with 1:45 left. Morehouse hauled in a 17-yard scoring pass from Sturgeon.

"I think we did a lot better job than we used to do against them," said Harrison's Mike Kern, who plays offensive tackle and nose guard. "We should have lost 35-28. We got into the red zone twice and couldn't score.

"I feel like we are a lot better than last year."

Pepiot threw for 237 yards and two touchdowns. Sturgeon threw for 155 yards and Morehouse had eight receptions for 114 yards.